Colourism
Colourism (US: colorism) is a set of discriminatory beliefs and attitudes about people of colour (PoC) based on the darkness or lightness of their skin (see also Passing Privilege#Whiteness). Thoughts Really colourism is sort of a corollary oppression to anti-blackness. It sort of goes by the logic if Black=Bad \implies Less Black = Less Bad So when we say that light-skinned Black people benefit from colourism, it's implying that we benefit from anti-blackness, which is not true. It is only true relative to people who are "more Black" than us: light-skinned privilege is therefore a relative privilege, that only exists within the oppression of anti-blackness. Redbone & Yellowbone |Quora://What's the difference between a redbone and a yellowbone?> |u://JaBria Bishop> :"A yellowbone is an African American or a person of mixed ethnicity who is light-skinned and has yellowish undertones in their skin color. Think Drake, Tisha Campbell, Phylicia Rashad. :A redbone is one who is light-skinned but has reddish undertones in their skin color. They're usually slightly darker than yellowbones. Think Aaliyah, Keyshia Cole, Nicki Minaj. :You can kind of look at it as a difference of undertones, where yellowbones have yellowish, “cool" undertones and redbones have reddish “warm” undertones." |QueerConsciousness.com:/Scott2014/White Supremacist Roots of “Yellow Bone”> :"This term is used to suggest that light skin black people are beautiful but it also means that they derive their beauty from the fact that they have light skin. On occasion I have heard people relay their disappointment that someone is yellow bone but is not beautiful. They are disappointed because light skin should get you closer to beauty and some yellow bones don’t seem to make most of their proximity to whiteness." :"Yellow bone talk relies on standards of beauty established through colonialism, slavery, and apartheid. The narratives that established white people as “beautiful” and black people as “ugly” are ever present and continuously reassert themselves in terms such as yellow bone. This is a fact pointed out recently in The New Yorker by Claudia Roth Pierpont who wrote a piece on Nina Simone where she said “the aesthetics of race – and the loathing and self-loathing inflicted on those who vary from accepted standards of beauty – is one of the most pervasive aspects of racism, yet it is not often discussed. The standards have been enforced by blacks as well as by white.”" Articles uncovering the "privilege" of being a white passing person of colour - i-D By Niloufar Haidari, February 2, 2016 "Sure, I may have 'white passing' privilege in London or on Tumblr where diversity is de facto but take me out of these very particular places and I am no longer white. I am not white-passing in the English countryside. I am not white-passing whenever I tan which is essentially less of a 'tan' but the colour my skin was meant to be if my grandparents had not chosen to live in a country in which it's overcast on average for 70% of the year. My features are not white: particularly my nose, hair and abundant body hair. I was in no way white-passing when I was a teenager with a unibrow and a moustache in hijab. My sideburns alone stop me from being white-passing even now. I was not benefiting from any kind of white privilege when I was called a p**i following 9/11. In fact, I was never classed as anything except brown until Kim Kardashian became famous and everyone (incorrectly) decided she was white. As an aside: it is interesting to note that the Kardashians are definitely white-passing now, but only after having undergone extensive surgery and laser hair removal to achieve a particular look. Indeed, when the Kardashians first came to fame, much of white mainstream media was quick to make jokes about their hairy faces, and Kim has since come forward to admit she lasers everything from her forehead to her arms." I'm biracial and people tell me I'm not black enough - Sarah Heikkinen, Teen Vogue "... I was hanging out with two other kids, both of whom were biracial like me. I always felt a connection to them and to the other black kids at our school (of which there were very, very few) because I knew that there was one thing that we could always hold on to: our blackness. But that day, I realized that what I thought was a unifier would forever become a complicated divider in my life." "When you picture a young black woman, I am not the first image that comes to mind. And yet, my blackness, and my mother’s blackness, is something I identify with very, very much. It’s a part of who I am, and it always will be. I wasn’t raised to dismiss my whiteness or my blackness — I was raised knowing and loving that I was both. But still, I’ve always had a lot of trouble with the fear that I will never be black enough. Or, just enough." "The way she describes her own experiences to me has been like this: “You’re never black enough, but you’re also never white enough.” Even though my mother’s experiences have been vastly different from my own, we’ve both experienced that same feeling of not being something enough." http://passingforwhite.weebly.com/blog/not-_____-enough "You're not white enough, you're not black enough. You're just stuck in the borderlands between black and white and it's terrible. Setting race aside, being told you aren't enough is basically just a huge part of how Western society works. You either tell yourself that you're not enough, or other people make you feel like you're not enough, or the media tells you you're not enough---not skinny enough, not pretty enough, your hair isn't straight enough, not smart enough....not black enough....not enough. I see other Black people and I feel this pull, this connection to them. I want to be like them, I want to be with them. I want to be a strong, beautiful, confident Black woman. I want to really, really fit in. In my wildest dreams, I wouldn't have been born the lightest child. I would be dark like my brother and sister and my cousins and my mom and my aunt and my uncles, I'd belong, I'd fit in. I'm grateful that I haven't had to face the same kinds of discrimination that they did/do, but I'm angry that I had to sit on the sidelines and witness people's blatant ignorant racism all through elementary to high school to college." Horizontal Hostility: Relations between similar minority groups - Judith B. White and Ellen J. Langer Should Light-Skinned People of Color Voluntarily Exclude Ourselves from People of Color Spaces? - Nico Dacumos, EverydayFeminism "Bottom line: When life, wellness, and happiness are at stake, Black, Indigenous and People of Color have a right to gather without white people in order to address issues that are important to them. Or even just to gather socially without the fear or inconvenience of having to worry about whether white people will insult them or act awkward. Similarly, darker-skinned BIPOC may also desire spaces where they can process and organize around the unique issues they face because of their closer proximities to Black and Indigenous skin tones and facial features and that us lighter-skinned people do not have to worry about." "Next time, before entering a BIPOC space, I would like to encourage light-skinned and white-passing people to read this helpful article by transpinay philosopher b. binaohan and consider the following questions: Why do I want to be a part of these spaces? Is it solely to be accepted, to be reassured by other BIPOC that I belong? Is it to build community with the loved ones and inner circles of people who constitute the spaces in which we might have the most impact in our work to change the world? Is it to hold space and compassion for the anger and resentment that darker-skinned Black and Indigenous people might have as a result of bearing the brunt of white supremacy’s abuses? Is it to build solidarity with BIPOC communities so that we can fight injustice together? Is it to move back by not dominating discussions and not rushing to take on leadership roles that could be filled by darker-skinned people? Is it to humbly ask what we can contribute to the struggle? Is to strategize around how we can use our perceived proximity to whiteness in order to destabilize white Supremacy?" Why can’t we defend Blackness when a Black person does something wrong? - Black Youth Project By Hari Ziyad, July 5, 2017 "More recently, there is the case of 19-year-old rapper Kodak Black, an undeniable misogynoirist who has already served time for sexual battery. In an Instagram live video, Black explained his preference for light-skinned and non-Black women, stating “I don’t really like Black girls like that.” In a later interview, he followed up by saying, “I just don’t like my skin complexion,” pointing to deeply internalized self-hatred, and again displayed his own misogynistic tendencies in explaining his preference by saying that men “can break skinned women down more easy.” Kodak Black’s comments are wildly disgusting and obviously inexcusable, but saying that one shouldn’t respond to his vitriolic anti-Blackness with more of the same is not offering him an excuse. Yet, instead of focusing on the content of his sickening comments, many turned around and pointed to his own dark-skinned features, with some calling him a “roach,” a historically anti-Black term and claiming he is ugly for looking “African,” defending their actions by stating that their legitimate anger shouldn’t be “tone policed.”"http://blackyouthproject.com/cant-defend-blackness-black-person-something-wrong/ References Category:Race Category:Black Culture Category:Privilege Category:Anti-Blackness Category:Racism Category:White Supremacy Category:White